Jose de Canterac

Jose de Canterac (1779-13 April 1835) was a General of the Spanish Army during the South American Wars of Liberation.

Biography
Jose de Canterac was born in Casteljaloux, France in 1779, and he came to serve in the Spanish Army after emigrating to Spain in 1792 during the French Revolution. He served in the cavalry during the War of the Pyrenees and the Peninsular War, and he was later sent to South America to fight for the royalist cause. In 1816, he joined Pablo Morillo's army fighting in the expedition against Isla Margarita in Venezuela, and he became a Field Marshal. He took command of the Spanish army in South America in 1822 and was victorious at Ica in 1822 and Moquegua in 1823, but his defeats in 1824 at the Battle of Junin and the Battle of Ayacucho led to his capitulation to the patriot forces. Upon his return to Spain, he became Captain-General of Madrid, and he was killed during an insurrection at the Puerta del Sol in 1835.